by Daniel Boone
photo by Rick Roche
As I read it, my mind left skid marks next to it.
IN ORDER TO GET FROM WHAT WAS TO WHAT WILL BE, YOU MUST GO THROUGH WHAT IS.
No, I mean tire-smoking, stinking-rubber-smell FULL HALT.
Wait. What?
IN ORDER TO GET FROM WHAT WAS TO WHAT WILL BE, YOU MUST GO THROUGH WHAT IS.
Ungh. That’s what I thought I read. See, I’ve spent the last 17 years going through what is, just strictly counting life-threatening health issues. Disease. Certain death. So you’ll understand if I’m less than thrilled at the prospect of more ‘through.’
Then I began thinking about the values attached to ‘throughness.’ I had automatically done what you probably would have done as well: I assumed all ‘through’ value to be negative. Truth? You and I are experiencing ‘throughness’ every day. It’s just a part of life. It’s not the event. It’s what I do with or about it.
So–I got to thinking about the greater value of the experience of moving through whatever lies between my ‘IS’ and my ‘WHAT WILL BE’ until I’m there. Hebrews 12:2 says that’s what Jesus did when faced with the immediate prospect of the Cross. He looked beyond it–or ‘through’ it and everything surrounding it to all the superb stuff waiting beyond it.
So. No matter whether your ‘through’ is Yippee-Skippy Stupendous, Gutter-Squeegeeing Dystopian, or Numbingly Mundane, there’s a beginning and an end. “Through” by definition starts and ends. Ever heard somebody say when facing a difficulty, “Aw, I can do that standing on my head as long as I know it’s temporary!?” Are you on your way “through” something? Probably.
Have you, maybe, let yourself mentally – maybe spiritually – get bogged down or high-centered in the middle of your “through?” Let me encourage you: get your eyes up out of the immediate underbrush, above the weeds and back on your “What Will Be.” If you keep your eyes, heart, mind and spirit focused on that goal, then your “Through” canNOT hold you back any longer. Learn what you can from the experience, but keep moving ahead.
I’m here to be an example to encourage and inspire others. If I can overcome my set of challenges – my “Through” – you can overcome yours. The only hitch is that nobody can do that for you. Listen to how the writer put it: “Strip down, start running–and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed–that exhilarating finish in and with God–he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there. . .” [The Message]
Read it with me one more time. It’s a good one to copy and put someplace where you’ll see it often.
IN ORDER TO GET FROM WHAT WAS TO WHAT WILL BE, YOU MUST GO THROUGH WHAT IS.
Daniel Boone is a medically-retired minister and hospital chaplain and a member of Wichita First Church of the Nazarene. More of his writings are available at 2ndcupofcoffee.com.
